Chamade: A breath of freshness in a storm of freedom. As in 1969 women discover the pleasures and intoxication of their emancipation, Jean-Paul Guerlain, sole master on board for the first time, composes for them an elixir of freedom under the gentle name of Chamade.
In the 20th century, the venerable house of Guerlain, founded in the 19th century, continues along its glory-paved path, first with Jacques Guerlain and his sublime Shalimar and Mitsouko, then with Jean-Paul Guerlain and his innovative fragrances such as Vétiver or Chamade. Chamade, launched in 1969, marks a turning point in the history of the house of Guerlain, asserting a modernity that no other fragrance, aside from Vétiver, had been able to offer until then. Chamade and Jean-Paul Guerlain give their house a new breath of life…
Chamade, or Jean-Paul Guerlain's fragrant declaration of love
Since 1828, the house of Guerlain has embodied everything that is most beautiful in perfumery, whether through the elegance of its fragrances or the extreme quality of the raw materials chosen for their composition. While Jacques Guerlain had known how to marvelously carry forward the rich legacy of his house, his grandson Jean-Paul showed, from a very young age, astonishing creativity and a striking avant-garde spirit in his fragrant creations. It was indeed from the very first collaboration between the two men, for Vétiver in 1956, that Jacques Guerlain decided, faced with such talent, to entrust his succession to Jean-Paul Guerlain.
Jean-Paul Guerlain would prove different from the house's other perfumers. Particularly drawn to modernity and olfactory research, he would not hesitate to use unexpected accords, first for Chant d'Arômes and then for Chamade. But the great difference that Jean-Paul Guerlain maintains with his predecessors also lies in his inspiration: he designs fragrances for the women he loves or admires.
These romantic creative impulses are expressed as early as Chamade, where he composed a multifaceted fragrance that marvelously depicts a complex and astonishing woman. It is whispered that Chamade, inspired by the novel by Françoise Sagan, may have been composed as a tribute to the beautiful and intriguing Brigitte Bardot…
Love and women have been a great source of inspiration. In my view, fragrance is the most intense form of memory. Jean-Paul Guerlain for Noblesse et Royautés.
Blackcurrant bud and hyacinth over a Guerlinade base for a passionate Chamade
Chamade is a fragrance for women, but above all it is a fragrance entirely inspired by women, which represents a major advance compared to all of Guerlain's other creations. Thus, it is hardly surprising to find in Chamade the pulsations of that woman of the 1960s who is constantly changing and evolving.
We will therefore discover Chamade through three different faces: the green and innovative top accords, the delicate and classically feminine flowers of the heart, and the sensual, “liberated” notes of the depths.
Indeed, the top of Chamade offers green and citrus notes, dynamic and intensified through the use of aldehydes. But the blackcurrant bud, a discovery by Jean-Paul Guerlain, gives this opening a fruity pulse that was still unknown until then. Then the delicate floral heart of ylang-ylang, jasmine and rose becomes feminine sweetness and refined delicacy, representing woman in her most classic image. Yet a breath of hedione, still rare at the time, sweeps away these sweetnesses to release a Guerlinade whose depth turns sensual. Guerlain's woman wants, for the first time, to be free…